“Then Jesus cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.’” John 12:44-45.
Earlier Jesus’ words had ended at John 12:35-36 and His dialogue with the people stopped for a period of time, then resumed above.
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.’ These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.” John 12:36.
Consider this. It is essential that a person accept Jesus as Savior while they have the light, lest the light becomes hidden from them.
“For He [God] says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you. And in the day of salvation I have helped you [given you light].’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2.
It is possible that He had hidden Himself from the crowd for a while and then returned at a later time frame.
The passages in John 12:37-43 which elaborated on the Jews rejection of Jesus in spite of all the signs He had performed. Though there were many even among the rulers who believed in Him.
Since Jesus seems to pick up where He left off in John 12:36 when He again begins to speak to the people here, it would seem that verses 37-43 are almost parenthetical, though no less important.
“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” John 12:36a.
“Then Jesus cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.’” John 12:44.
It remains therefore, for Jesus to reaffirm His mission, that He is the Christ and that He reveals the Father to men; that His rejection brings judgment and that His words are not His but the Father’s.
John 12:44-50 are His last words revealing Himself to the Jews in the book of John before the Passover Supper and His crucifixion.
“…He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.” John 12:44-45.
Here is something that folks just do not seem to understand; Jesus is not just God’s son, like some demigod, nor is He God’s son in the sense that He is inferior like the son of someone’s boss who is in a position of authority with no real weight or experience.
Jesus is, as this book has expressed over and over, God the Son. And when you study Him you are not looking at someone who has some genetic resemblance and is meek and mild because God the Father told Him to be.
You are looking at the face of God, at the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person, nothing less.
“God who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” Hebrews 1:1-3.
“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily…” Colossians 2:9.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:1-3.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14.
“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” John 1:18.
No one can have the Father without the Son.
“I and My Father are one [one essence].” John 10:30.
“Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:23.
“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” 1 John 3:23.
“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:10-12.
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36.
The Godhead is indivisible, the gospel unchanging, and anyone or any church, or any religion that says otherwise is anathema, accursed.
“…there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:7b-9.
“I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.” John 12:46.
Jesus either represents Himself as the Light or is referred to as the Light at least eight times in the book of John with a number of other times where we see the effect of His light.
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:4-5.
When Scripture says “…the darkness did not comprehend it.” it means that the darkness did not overcome it.
We are rapidly approaching the hour of the Lord’s crucifixion in this book so the darkness is indeed at its most suffocating level, but Satan loses at the cross, so it did not overcome the Lord.
The world is dark, filled with evil, sin, and the things that go along with them, confusion, anguish, fear, and hopelessness. This is our world today and the same sort of darkness that Jesus came into.
The light that He brought into it is first of all salvation, which wipes out the fear of death, and truth which destroys superstition and gives hope and an abundant life.
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” John 14:6.
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10.
“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.
“And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him – the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” John 12:47-48.
The first time Jesus came into the world, it was to die for the sin of the world, and those who believe that and accept Him as payment for their sins are seen as sinless in the eyes of God.
Whereas, those who reject the things Jesus said of Himself will die in their sin, dooming them to hell.
When Jesus returns to the earth the second time, it will be as King and Judge, and at the end of time, on Judgment Day, this same Judge will judge them by the words that the sinner rejected.
“And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” 1 John 2:2.
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.” 1 John 4:14.
“For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” John 12:49-50.
Jesus attests here that the words that He spoke have the authority of God the Father, God of the Jews. By extension this means that to reject Jesus’ words is to reject the words of God the Father and to reject the Father’s words is to reject their God.
Bear in mind that Jesus came to the Jews with great signs and wonders which could only have been done by the power of God the Father.
“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” John 15:22.
These are the last words recorded in the gospel of John that are spoken to the nation.
Chapters 13 through 17 concern the Passover and His words to His disciples.
Chapters 18 through 21 record Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, resurrection, and appearances after His resurrection.
His ascension into heaven is described in the book of Acts, chapter 1.
Jesus Cried Out, John 12:44-50 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 2-21-13, updated on 1-2-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.